Dundee city council will bribe smokers to quit by offering them vouchers to buy food. Call it carrots for fags if you like. That is the essence of a pilot scheme to try to persuade some of the city's 36,000 smokers - half of whom live in poverty - to kick the habit.

While doubting Thomases may wonder about the scheme's effectiveness, it follows the success of the "give it up for baby" idea, which encouraged pregnant smokers in the city to give up cigarettes.

Scotland is one of Europe's worst countries in terms of health: Scots smoke too much and eat badly. The Scottish government says life expectancy is improving but admits that it remains low compared with most western European countries.

The Dundee scheme is a stab to improve things a little bit. Ex-smokers will be given £12.50 a week on an electronic card and the credits can be spent on fresh food and groceries, but not alcohol or cigarettes.

Scotland banned smoking in enclosed public places in 2006 in an attempt to improve people's health, but places like Dundee, Scotland's fourth biggest city, have a long way to go.

Life expectancy in Dundee is among the lowest in Britain, according to Scottish government figures. It is also the third most deprived area in Scotland. Good luck to Dundee, but will £12.50 a week be enough to persuade smokers to give up?